Council defers Balboa Park appeal

The fountain in the center of the Plaza de Panama is currently a mere traffic circle in front of the San Diego Museum of Art. The plaza would be closed to parking under a plan by Mayor Bob Filner. (2010 photo)
— Eduardo Contreras

The fountain in the center of the Plaza de Panama is currently a mere traffic circle in front of the San Diego Museum of Art. The plaza would be closed to parking under a plan by Mayor Bob Filner. (2010 photo)
— Eduardo Contreras

Solutions to Balboa Park's traffic-pedestrian conflicts remain elusive as the City Council struggles with what to do and how much it would cost.

The council took no action Tuesday after it conferred with Mayor Bob Filner and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith in closed session.

The session was called to review Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor's ejection earlier this month of a $45 million solution proposed by Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs.

Jacobs had spent $8 million and more than two years on a plan that would have eliminated parking from the Plaza de Panama outside the San Diego Museum of Art and traffic from the west Prado and connecting road to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion parking lot.

But to accommodate auto traffic, Jacobs proposed a bypass off the Cabrillo Bridge and an 800-car parking garage, and those additions drew opposition from preservationists and some community groups and the lawsuit in Taylor's court.

"No decision has been made regarding an appeal," said Goldsmith spokesman Jonathan Heller, referring to Taylor's ruling issued Feb. 4. The city would have 60 days to appeal -- about the beginning of May -- after the final judgment has been entered into the record.

Councilman Todd Gloria, who represents the park and is this year's council president, said through spokeswoman Katie Keach that he still wants to "reclaim" the Plaza de Panama for pedestrian use in time for the 2015 centennial of the park's Panama-California Exposition.

"The way forward remains unclear," Keach said. "We're still in a little bit of a 'not sure how we're going to move forward' (mode), but we'll find a way."

Keach said one option remains possible -- to amend the municipal code to exempt the bypass from historic preservation rules, one of the key stumbling blocks to the Jacobs plan that came up in the lawsuit. But the council also could repeal the Jacobs plan, which is now part of the park's official master plan, and adopt a different solution.

Consideration of those two options or any others has not yet been scheduled for council discussion, she added.

"I think we'll have a clearer picture within several weeks," she said.

Document

Bruce Coons, executive director of the Save Our Heritage Organisation which successfully sued the city, said he has begun circulating an alternate plan at City Hall that he said could be done at Filner's command.

It would eliminate painted spaces for 54 vehicles in the Plaza de Panama and provide for two-way traffic across the Cabrillo Bridge and along the southwest edge of the plaza before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. Replacement parking spaces for handicap vehicles and valet service could be added in existing lots.

"We're open to working with (the mayor, council and park and community groups) in refining it," Coons said. "We're not married to it, but we think it's a great one, very similar to other ones out there."

SOHO attorney Susan Brandt-Hawley said Coons' organization has the option to file an appeal, as well as the city, since the judge did not rule in SOHO's favor on all counts. She did not read anything significant into the council's no-action move Tuesday.

"It's complicated, the ruling was mixed and it's an interesting and complex issue and such an important project," she said, "so decisions are not being made quickly."